Collapsible double wall container



May 12, 1959 D. L. DAVISON 2,886,084

COLLAPSIBLE DOUBLE! WALL CONTAINER Filed July 50, 1958 5 Sheets-Sheet 111 5:: 5:: E 5:: .k a :5: 3

May 12, 1959 D. L. DAVISON COLLAPSIBLE DOUBLE WALL CONTAINER Filed Julyso, 1958 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 12, 1959 D. L. DAVISON 2,836,084

COLLAPSIBLE DOUBLE WALL CONTAINER Filed July 30, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 3United States PatCntO H My invention is directd'lto a portablecontainer, pref erably one in a cylindrical form, the container-havinga1;; inner wall and the horizontal portion 19 of the, outer wall ,1 17are disposed in the same plane, and both are cemented ice la rhorizontal portion 19. Both the portion 16 of or otherwise secured totheunder surface of the top por- 5 tion of the container, which topportion is identified genrigid base, a rigid top,and a cylindrical wallstructure therebetween. ,The wall struicturelconsists of an inner walland an outer wall surrounding said inner wall and being in a spacedrelation thereto. Disposed between the two walls is a helical spring,the coils of which wind about the axis of the; cylinder, the lower endof the spring bearing against the rigid base of the container, the,upper end of the spring bearingagainst the rigid top thereof. The wallsof the container are made of pliable and flexible sheet material and areshaped into accordion-like folds. The space between the outer and theinner wall is adapted to contain airunder normal atmospheric pressure,andserves as a heat-insulating medium. Thus, the container is adapted toserve in the nature of. a thermos; bottle, but has the advantage overordinary containers of this sort that when empty it may be collapsed toa fraction of itsnormal dimensions, and itwill extend automatically fromits collapsed to itstully-expanded position. I- shall now describe myinvention with ref erence to the accompanyingdrawings in which 7 Fig. 1is a side elevational View of normal or expanded position;

Fig. Zis a top view thereof; l Fig. 3 is a sectional elevational view ofthe container in a collapsed position, taken on line 3-3 ofFig. 2; 1

Fig. 4 is a sectional elevational view illustrating Fig 3 in its normalor expanded position. i i l 71 l .Similar numerals refer to similarparts throughout {the several views.

The container, which inits'preferredform is cylindrical.

in shape, includes a cup-shaped base 10 including an upright annularwall 11, the latter-being provided, along its upper rim, with anexternal bead 12. At this point I wish to point out that the base andthe top of the container, to which Ishall refer in due course, arepreferably made of ,a plastic material of the synthetic resin category.

Mounted upon the base is the lower portion ofgthe inner wall of thecontainer, the inner wall being generally identified by numeral 13. Saidlower portion consists of a flat circular member 14 which maybe fused orotherwise secured to the base, specifically, to the central areathereof, so as to leave a free annular space between said inner wall 13and the wall 11 of the cupshaped base. The wall 13 is creasedtransversely to its height, as shown by lines 15 and 15a, to form anaccordion-like structure. At the upper end said inner wall 13 includes ahorizontal annular portion 16 to which I shall refer again.

The outer wall of the container, which wall is generally, identified bynumeral 17, has a similar accordion-like structure, but is of a largerdiameter so as to enclose said inner Wall 13 in a spaced relationthereto. The lower end of the outer wall includes an annular,inwardly-turned horizontal portion 18 which is cemented or otherwisesecured to the base 10.

At the top, the outer wall 17 terminates with an annuerally by numeral20.

Said top portion includes a circular flat, member 21.

which is of a rigid structure and which is provided with acentrally-located aperture 22 leadingintoa cylindrical spout 23. Thespout includes, at its upper end, an ex ternal bead 24. Depending fromthe marginal portion of. the flat member 21 is an annular skirt 25, thelower por-L tion of which is threaded externally as shown at 26. Inskirtis provided at its lower end with a:

addition; the head 27.

At this point I wish to state that the inner wall 13 is to ,be made,preferably, out of such material as silicone elastom er orelastomer-coated fabric, as it isdesirable, that the wall be made out ofa material which is flexible;

heat resistant, nontoxic, non-absorbing, odorless, tasteless, and inertto chemical reaction of food items in said the container in its 1*?container. i

. The outer wall 17 may made of a material similar to or identical withthat used for the inner wall .13.,

wall, as shown at 28b.

As best shown in Fig; 4, the individual structure of said wall.

slants downwardly and inwardly from said. loop, the two slantingportions meeting at the peak 29. As a result of the employment of saidhelical spring, thepeak may consist of a continuous sinuous linefollowing the helical turn of the spring itself.

two air vents. Oneof them, 30, serving as an intake vent, is covered bya flap valve 31 which opens inwardly into the space between said walls,and the other vent, 32, 1

is covered by a similar flap valve 33 opening outwardly To complete thedescription of the container, I will refer to a cap34 which is adaptedto fit over the mouth of the spout and to engage the external bead 24 atthe top of said spout. Applied over the spout and over the top of thecontainer is a removable cover 35. The cover has the shape of aninverted cup and includes a cylindrical Wall 36 which is threadedinwardly for engagement with the threads 26 of the skirt 25 of the topportion of the container.

I shall now describe the manner in which the container may be used.Itwill be assumed that the container, which is 'to be filled withcontents, is in a collapsed condition, as shown in Fig. 3. In thisposition the accordionshaped walls 13 and 17 are compressed against thebase 10 by the top portion 20 till the annular head 27 on the skirt 25has been brought into an interlocking engagement with the external bead12 of the base 10.

In said collapsed condition the container-wouldhave the form of a small,compact package consisting, as seen outwardly, of the cover 36 and thebase 10. Now, in order to bring the container to its-expanded condition,it

Patented May 12, 1959 loops of the spring bear against the outer Wall17,from within, keep-y ing said outer wall in a spaced relation to theinner wall. 13 and serving as ribs to guide the folds in the accordionFor a better understanding therei of, Iwill refer to a portion 17a ofthe outer wall} 17,: which portion slats upwardly and inwardly. fromthe, respective loop of the spring, and to aportion 17b which would-benecessary to disengage the cover from thebase. As the plastic materialout of which both the cover and the base are made is sufiicientlyflexible and resilient, an upward pull upon'the cover would-sufiice todisengage beadsIZ-and 27, permitting the cover to be disconnectedfromsaid'base. I

Upon-disengagement of the cover from the base -10, the coiled spring 28would push the top portion 20 of the container upwardly to itsfully-expanded position, as-

shown in Fig. 4, in which position the top portion would bedisposedremotely from said base.

"It will'be understoodthat in the course of the'expansion of thecontainer as above'stated, the flap valve 32 would'open automaticallyinwardly into the space between the two walls 133 and 1-7, permittingair under atmospheric pressure to be suckedinto said space. Reversely,when the container is to be collapsed, the other flap valve wouldautomatically be opened by pressure of air forced out from said-spacebetween wa lls 13 and 17.

It'will be understood that some changes may be made in thestructure ofthe container without departing from the inventive concept disclosedherein.

What I, therefore, wish to claim is as follows:

1. A portable container including a base, a top, and an uprightaccordion-like wall structure of pliable, moistureproof materialconnected at its lower end to the base and at the upper end'to said top,the wall structure including'an accordion-like inner wall and a similarouter wall' in a spaced relation to said inner wall, coilspring means=inthe space between the inner wall and the outer wall, the spring meansbearing at the lower end against said base andbearing at the upper endagainst said top,

the resistance- -of 'the spring means by manual pressure upon the toptowards the base. i

2. A portable container including a rigid circular base,

a rigid circular top, and a vertical wall structure mounted on the baseand secured at its upper end to the underside of the top, thewallstructure including a cylindrical outer wall of a pliable plasticmaterial, accordion-like in shape, and a similar accordion-likecylindrical inner wall also of pliable plastic material, said inner wallbeing axially alined with the outer wall but being spaced therefrom, airvent means in said top for passage of air out of or into the spacebetween the outer and the inner walls, a heli cal spring within thelast-named space, the spring being loosely coiled around the innersurface of the outer wall and bearing at the lower end against said baseand at the upper end against said top, said top beingprovided with acylindrical spout leading into the interior of the space enclosedby-saidinner wall, the'accordion-like wall structure being adapted to becollapsed against the resistance of said spring by manual pressure uponthe top towards the base, a removable cover to fit over the top andadapted to be engaged to the base to keep the container in a collapsedcondition.

3. A portable cylindrical container including a cupshaped base, avertical accordion-like wall structure of pliable liquid-imperviousmaterial mounted upon the base and extendingupwardlytherefrom, a topsecured to the upper end of the wall structure, said top having theshape of an inverted cup including a downwardly-extending annular skirtwhich is threaded outwardly, the wall structure including a cylindricalouter wall of a pliable plastic material accordion-like in shape, and asimilar accordionlike cylindrical inner wall also of pliable plasticmaterial, said inner wall being axially alined with the outer wall butbeing spaced therefrom, air vent means in said top for passage 'of airout of or into the space between the outer and the inner walls, ahelical spring within the last-named space, the spring being looselycoiled around the inner surface of the outer wall,'and 'bearing at thelower end against said base and at the upperend against said'top, saidtop being provided with a cylindrical spout leading into the interiorofthe space enclosed by said'inner wall, the accordion-like wallstructurebeing adapted to be collapsed against the resistance of said spring bymanual pressure upon the'top towards the base,'a 'removable'cylindricalcover fit over the top, the cover including a vertical annularwallthreaded inwardly for engagement with the threaded portion of saidskirt, said cover including means-for engagement tothe'baseto keep the"container in its collapsed condition 4. A collapsible containerincluding'a base, arr-accordion-like wall consisting-of an inner walland an outerwall in "a spacedTelation to the inner wall, both wallsbeing mounted on said base, the walls being made of moistureimperviousmaterial, and a top extending over the spacing between the inner and theouter-wall and secured to both, the top having an air vent for passageof air into or out of the space between the outer wall and theinner'wall and a central aperture leading into the interior of the spaceenclosed by said inner wall, coiledspring means within the space betweenthe outer wall and the inner wall,the spring'means, at one end, bearingagainst the base and at the other end bearing against said top to keep'said' top yieldingly'away from the base, both walls, the inner and theouter, being adapted to be collapsed by manual pressure'upon the toptowards the base.

'Refere'nce's'Cited in'the file of this patent UNITED STATES-PATENTS

